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New research showing that Americans have high levels of environmental chemicals circulating in their blood and urine has renewed calls for Australian authorities to undertake similar investigations.

A US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) study recently measured the exposure of 3,800 people across the US to 27 environmental chemicals including environmental tobacco smoke, lead, pesticides and phthalate plasticising compounds used in cosmetics and PVC household products.

Most of the chemicals had never been tested for before.

The new research was made possible by advances in a technology known as 'biomonitoring' which measures chemicals directly in the blood and urine rather than indirectly by estimating population exposures by measuring air, water or soil samples.

While the CDC emphasised that more research is required to determine whether the levels reported are a cause for health concern, phthalates have previously been linked with reproductive problems in animals. In 1999 the European Union called for a blanket ban of phthalates in childcare articles and toys.

"It is clear that people are being exposed to phthalates and that they're very pervasive," according to Mr Matt Ruchel from Greenpeace Australia. "But there's been no direct monitoring of human exposure to such chemicals in Australia. There's been a complete denial of the issue in this country," he said.

The convenor of the National Toxics Network in Australia, Mariann Lloyd-Smith, echoed these concerns saying there is no equivalent monitoring in Australia.

"We've been calling for biological monitoring of urine, blood and breastmilk so we can work out some baselines of what we're being exposed to," Ms Lloyd-Smith said.

"You can bet your bottom dollar that you'd find a similar situation with phthalates in Australia," she said.

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On the positive side, the CDC study did find a reduced exposure to both lead and environmental tobacco smoke, both of which they have been monitoring for some time.

Sydney-based lead campaigner Elizabeth O'Brien of The LEAD Group Inc said she believed equivalent biomonitoring was essential in Australia so the level of lead poisoning could be properly assessed.

She feared, however, it would be unlikely to deliver such good news on lead exposures in Australia.

"We've managed to slow down the amount of new lead being put into the environment by phasing out leaded petrol," Ms O'brien said. "But the impact of the lead from petrol will continue to be a problem for children in Australia because of its accumulation, especially in ceiling dust above our heads."

The CDC also measured cotinine, a breakdown product of nicotine, and found exposure to environmental tobacco smoke had decreased by 75 per cent since 1991.